British Dog Expert Tries Suicide After Letting Pups Bake in Car

Handler slashed wrists after hearing of pups' fate

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A British dog handler is in trouble after leaving to dogs to die in a hot car.

Updated at 10:10 AM EDT on Tuesday, Jun 28, 2011

A top British police dog handler attempted suicide after leaving two of his charges to die in an unventilated car.

London Police Sgt. Ian Craven threw himself from a car and later slashed his wrists after learning two Metropolitan Police dogs - a German Shepherd puppy and a working Belgian Malinois - died after he left them in a private car at the Metropolitan Police's dog training centre in Keston, Kent, according to the Daily Mail. Craven, who was being treated for his injuries, was blamed for a similar dog death in 2004, a spaniel who died in a hot vehicle at the same center.

"The suffering those dogs went through is too unbearable to think about," a worker at the centre, Tina Dale, said. "I'm in bits, we tried so so hard, but it was too long, the damage had been done. What a bloody awful way to die."

Police broke into the vehicle Sunday after being alerted and found both dogs collapsed, according to the BBC. They were taken to a London veterinary hospital, where both died. Craven, who had been assigned to work at the Olympic site in East London, was on his way back to the facility when he was told that the animals had died, according to the Daily Mail. He leaped from the car and fled and was found later with self-inflicted wounds.